Homeschool Happenings: Weekly wrap-up #5ish

This week has pretty much been “all business.” The weather has been getting nicer and warmer around here and its all I can do to keep my kids inside to do anything related to school!! But, we’re doing our best.

He’s still doing well and working hard to finish his papers in the morning (read more about our block schedule here). Most of the time even does them without complaining or arguing!! YAY!!! So, maybe we are making some progress.

This week we’ve actually not done our reading. I’ve been battling a Crohn’s attack and most of my afternoons are spent sleeping from exhaustion. So, we’ve got some make-up work to get in, but we’ll be back at it in no time…I hope.

We’re continuing our study about the Stars this week in Science. Can I just tell you how amazing and AWESOME our God is?! It amazes me how He created such complexity in the universe with just the spoken word!! Oh what I wouldn’t give to have sat next to him when he spoke everything into existence. Talk about AWESOME!! What a Mighty God we serve!

Tomorrow…er rather now, today (Saturday), we plan to set up our new “kid” gardens. I got them on sale for $5 a couple weeks ago. There hasn’t been time to get them planted, but we’re going to make time tomorrow...today. I’ll be sure to take pictures of us making a mess and having fun though!!

Well, that’s pretty much it. Sorry we’ve been pretty boring around here this week. Hopefully I’ll have more to report next week!

What did you do this week in your homeschooling journey? Feel free to share you favorite experiment, tip, idea or just a word of encouragement for others!!

Blessings,

Annette

I’m linking up to these other GREAT Homeschool Weekly Reviews!

Click on the links to check them out!

Holy Spirit Led Homeschooling

Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Home Grown Learners

52 Fridays: Weekly Update #18

Sorry this is up late and that I missed last weeks report. Life has been a little more than crazy around here!! A few weeks back I began having a Crohn’s flair of major proportions. Or at least for me. Please, don’t write me hate mail, I know I’ve been lucky and many people have it much worse than I. I haven’t been on medication in nearly 11 years, so this is pretty major for me. Anyway…my days have been a little less than productive to say the least. So, please bear with me as I trudge through this sickness.

Here goes this week’s report. You can read more about my journey beginning with Week 1. Feel free to join me and Crystal in this journey.

1. DAILY quiet time: I’ve been doing better at this. Some days I don’t get my emails read, but I have been reading in the Word each day!! It’s been so good and refreshing. I get my emails through biblegateway.com and a women’s devotional through Proverbs 31 devotions. Such great tools – be sure to check them out! 

2. Weekly weight loss: This is not going well at all right now. Mainly because I’m some medication to stop the Crohn’s flair-up I’m having. This medication, prednisone, causes you to retain water and therefore gain weight. Bleh! I’m still watching what I eat, so I’m pretty sure I’ll drop some pounds once I am finished with the medication and it’s out of my system. Until then… 

3. Vintage Remedies 8 weeks to Real Foods: Still working through the pantry. The Hubster has even gotten into the research and is helping by looking for less expensive but healthy options!! We’re ready to eat better and feel better!! 

4. Homeschool Fun: We have been playing some games to reinforce what we’re learning in math, but otherwise he just wants to finish his work “now” and go play!! At least we’re not having meltdowns daily, right?! 

5. Organization: We’re having a garage sale in a couple weeks, so I’ve been going through toys, clothes, misc items in the house. I’m cleaning out more and more and excited to “thin out” what we have. I think this will help me with getting more organized too! 

6. Staying caught up: Even though I’ve been sick most days over the past 2 weeks, I’ve managed to stay relatively caught up. And, since my wrist is acting up again, I’m very thankful to the Hubster for helping with the dishes several days this week. With his help, we’ve had a clean sink this week!! Not to mention the fact that he cleaned off the counter top for me too!! I’m truly blessed!! 

7. Blog changes: I’m so VERY excited to announce that my new site will be up and running this Sunday, May 6^th, 2012!!!!! If you haven’t stopped by the new site, please take a second to do so! Follow me on Linky Followers, Networked Blogs or by email. “Like” my new facebook page! Help me spread the word about my blog!! I’m so excited for this adventure and journey God has placed in front of me. I hope you’ll join me for the ride!!

What have you been up to this week? How do you find time or make time for God’s Word as a busy Mom?

I love your comments!! They help encourage not only me, but others that read this blog. Feel free to leave a comment and/or a link to a post that will encourage others in their Christian walk too!!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Have a blessed weekend!

Blessings,

Annette

Teachable Tuesdays: Homeschool Series Part 3 - Why Block Scheduling Works for Us

When we started our homeschooling journey a couple years ago, we pretty much did papers everyday. Not many, because he was in Kindergarten, but we had some paperwork every day. While working on writing it was very important to me that he did it daily. Now that we’re past some of that we’ve revised our schedule.

Another reason we block schedule is that my son hates …despises …er loathes paperwork. I mean with a passion!! It was fit throwing, meltdown city and drama every. single. day. Seriously! So, it got me thinking…maybe we should try to do a block schedule of sorts and see if that helps.

So, here’s how we structure our Block Schedule.

Monday, Wednesday & Friday – Reading. All kinds of reading. That means reading from our text books (Science, History & Bible), reading on his own, read-alouds – anything that pertains to reading, we do on these days. This can take us anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half depending on his cooperation and what we’re discussing that day. Some days he has a lot to add and talk about and some days he doesn’t. I usually let him dictate that aspect of his schooling.

Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday – Paperwork. This includes Spelling, Handwriting, Geography and Math. He usually has no more than 6 papers on these days. Then, we’ll play some fun, educational games to reinforce one of these subjects. Sometimes we even do flash cards, which he actually likes! So, it’s not all easy-peasy.

Now, you may be wondering why we do school on Saturdays. Well, right now we’re playing catch-up on our school days. We normally take most of December off and then with my Dad’s illness and death it pretty much shot January and most of February. Under normal circumstances we do not school on Saturdays.

However…with the crazy work schedule The Hubster has we might think about keeping it this way. The Hubster gets off work at 7am Wednesday morning (he works overnights, Fri-Tue) and doesn’t return to work until Friday night. So, other than his sleep on Wednesday, we see him most of those two days. We usually take “field trips” on Thursdays when Daddy is with us.

I’m toying with the idea of taking all Thursdays off next school year (which begins in June) and having those free for Daddy-days, yard work, field trips, etc. And, if we do that, we’ll probably do some paperwork on Saturdays. It’s not much work to do and it does help keep him on a routine, which seems to work well for him and truth be told…me too!

Trying to read several pages a day in Science, History and Bible plus doing all the paperwork was just overload for him. And honestly, by the time we finished with all the drama and meltdowns it was a rush to try and finish his work.

Another reason I like our Block Scheduling is because it frees up more time for me to devote to the Middles for their school time. Come back next week to see how I plan to transition from schooling only 1 kiddo to 3!!!!

What tips do you have for homeschooling a wide range of ages? Feel free to share your tips in the comments below or leave a link to your post where you share tips and ideas on homeschooling!!

My new blog site is up and semi-running, just working out some technicalities. It will officially become my only site on Sunday, May 6th. So be sure to visit me over there this week and subscribe via email, "Like" my facebook page and just browse around. I will double post here and there this week just to give everyone a chance to transition over! Thanks for your support!!! And let me know what you think of the new site! See ya over there!!

www.inallyoudo.net

  

Blessings,

Annette

Linking up to these wonderful parties:

What Joy Is Mine

Teaching What Is Good

Far Above Rubies

Raising Homemakers

A Wise Woman Builds Her Home

Deep Roots At Home

The Imperfect Housewife

Raising Mighty Arrows

Holy Spirit Led Homeschooling

Teachable Tuesdays: Homeschool Curriculum Choices - Part 2: Preschool

Please ignore the mess in the background.
Here is a rare picture of all 3 kids at the table for school-time!

Our third official year of homeschooling begins June 4^th. But, this year will be much different than the previous two years. This year I will not only school our oldest (2^nd grade), but also our two Middles (ages 3 & 2). WOW!!! Can I tell you how nervous I am? Yet I’m also so excited to see them learn and grow!! I didn’t get to school our oldest at this young age, so I’m bursting with excitement, joy, and overwhelming anxiety all at the same time!

Anxiety you ask? Yep! I have it all planned out on paper and even a rough schedule outlined so we can mostly stay on task. This year will really stretch me, because I am an on-time, task oriented, Type A personality and well…that doesn’t compute with my Middles. So, it should be interesting, fun and a wonderful year of learning for everyone!

I wanted to share with you our preschool curriculum choices for our upcoming school year. The links I am providing in no way give me commission or any compensation. It’s merely to give you a reference. I did not necessarily purchase my products from the site I link to. I researched and found the least expensive option and ordered/bought from there. I’ll share more about that at the end of this post, so stay tuned!!! Next week I’ll share how we structure our school days.

Okay, so our choices for Preschool are obviously less than those for our 2^nd grader. But, somehow that makes this task much more daunting! Nevertheless, I have finally decided on the following choices.

BrainyBaby Series: Last year my grandmother bought the entire Brainy Baby system for about a quarter of the original price!! And I plan to use every last bit of it with my Middles! We will use it to introduce our shapes, colors, numbers, letters and music this year. I also have Spanish, Sign Language and Art, but that will have to wait another year or so. I’m not that ambitious!!

ABeka: I will use this curriculum for our Numbers and Letters. We will do one Number per month and one Letter per week for Mister Mouse. Miss Priss will probably just color along and get some of it, but I don’t expect her to get it all. She just turned two, so it could get interesting! But, I do want her to know her numbers for sure, so that’s what we’ll mainly focus on this year with her.

I will also use the A Beka curriculum for most of our Arts and Crafts projects. They have some fun, creative and easy ideas that I’d like to take advantage of.

Bible: I don’t have a particular curriculum to use in this area. I like to read the Bible stories to them and find pictures they can color or activities we can do to reinforce what God’s word says. We will do this Bible reading time with Mister Bull as part of our Family Bible time during our school day.

As most Homeschooling Mom’s will tell you, it is so wonderful to be able to find and print so many FREE and wonderful papers online now!! I use these papers as fillers and supplementals to our other curriculum.

Here are a few of my favorite spots to find them:

SchoolExpress (over 17,000 FREE printables in a variety of subjects)

Kidszone (easy to find, sorted by grade or topic)

BiblePrintables (some great printables on this site. Easy to find too!)
All Kids Network (a fabulous resource for crafts, worksheets & activities!)

Some blogs I subscribe to also have stores where they offer their own curriculum. I’ve been very pleased with the ones I’ve purchased from:

HeavenlyHomemakers

MommySchool @ Oopsey Daisy 

(be sure and check out her Freebies tab too!)

So, that’s our curriculum for Preschool! What’s your favorite Preschool curriculum? I would love to hear what you are using or have used in the past. Or do you just do your own thing?

Now, I promised you I would fill you in on all my curriculum deals. Honestly, it takes quite a bit of effort to find the best deals, but believe me…it pays off!!! Here’s where I search for my deals.

Amazon

Half.com 

(a subsidiary of Ebay)

Christianbook.com

Timberdoodle

Individual Manufacturers (A Beka, RightStart)

Mardel - Yes, the Christian book store!! They have 2 semi-annual Homeschool/Education Sales and I watch for others throughout the year! In fact, I got our Apologia curriculum 30% off this year!!! YAY!!

Bibliomania (a local Homeschool re-sale/consignment shop. I don’t find too much here for what I need, but sometimes my teacher’s manuals and our A Beka readers for cheap!)

So, there ya have it!! I take several weeks usually to search out the above websites and stores and factor in upcoming sales, coupons, discounts, shipping, etc. before making my final orders. Like I said, it can be a lengthy process, but it’s well worth it for the money I save!

Feel free to share in the comments or leave a link back to your own post!! I love reading all your tips and ideas! I am always open to researching for new curriculum to see if it would work for us! We learn by sharing!! Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Annette

Linking up here:

What Joy Is Mine

Far Above Rubies

Teaching What is Good

Raising Mighty Arrows

Holy Spirit Led Homeschooling

Homeschool Happenings: Week 3

This picture is a couple years old. But, it shows his imagination at work.
He's hiding in his "cave" awaiting the "bad" guys. Notice all his weaponry?

This week has pretty much been “all business.” You’ll have to forgive me this week because my camera is acting up and it won’t take pictures. I’m so bummed!! We’re going to have to send it in for a repair (at least I hope its just a repair!!).

Last week we had a lot of rain and just plain yucky days, so this week my son wanted to play outside every chance he got. So, he has finished his schoolwork earlier in the day than usual to go outside. Believe me, I am not complaining about this at all!! I’m thrilled that we haven’t had the arguing or fussing about it. It’s been rather nice and a breath of fresh air around here!

So, this week has been rather relaxed around here. We’ve done our reading and papers as scheduled. Now that we’re a little more organized again, I’m starting to really crack down on his writing. He’s not a “bad” writer, especially for a boy in first grade, but he just gets in a hurry and therefore…sloppy. Ya know? This week he learned that it takes longer to do sloppy work that has to be re-done and fixed than it does to just take your time and do it right the first time! Huh…imagine that?!

We’re reading about Pluto this week. It’s so different than what I was taught, now that most scientists don’t classify it as a planet. I find it all very interesting and fascinating now that I’m older. I can appreciate the complexity and marvel at God’s workmanship so much more. I just hope I’m passing that along to my son as we’re reading and studying.

There’s really not much else to report this week. Like I said, our camera is on the fritz, so I didn’t get any pictures. That makes me so sad. I’m borrowing my mom’s camera though until ours is fixed, so there should be some pictures up again next week. Maybe we’ll have some more fun to share too!

What did you do this week in your homeschooling journey? Feel free to share you favorite experiment, tip, idea or just a word of encouragement for others!!

Blessings,

Annette

I’m linking up to these other GREAT Homeschool Weekly Reviews!

Click on the links to check them out!

HolySpirit Led Homeschooling

Weird UnsocializedHomeschoolers

HomeGrown Learners
Grateful for Grace

52 Fridays: Weekly Update #16

Here goes this week’s report. You can read more about my journey beginning with Week 1. Feel free to join me and Crystal in this journey.

1. DAILY quiet time: I have done better this week. Even if I haven’t gotten up early, I’ve still read my emails each day. Oh…maybe I missed a day. Nevertheless I am determined to make this a priority for me! I get my emails through biblegateway.com and a women’s devotional through Proverbs 31 devotions. Such great tools – be sure to check them out! 

2. Weekly weight loss: I’m feeling a little discouraged in this area. But, from what I read and hear from people who’ve been down this road…this is par for the course. So I will persevere and push forward. 

3. Vintage Remedies 8 weeks to Real Foods: I finished the food pantry sheet this week!!! YAY!!!! Man oh man do I have a LOT of food in there!! Working on meals over the next few weeks that will clear it out. And, when something is gone, we’re replacing it with a healthier option! YAY!!! 

4. Homeschool Fun: This week has been more about getting it done for my son. He’s been feeling that Spring bug and wants to be outside most of the time. So, we’ve been doing our best to get school done early so he can have time outside. 

5. Organization: Not much to report here. I’ve got great ideas, but lack either the funds or the time! Working on new, inexpensive options!! 

6. Staying caught up: Did really well this week! Laundry is almost done for the day/week and my dishes are caught up!! I’ve done really well at keeping up. Now let’s see if we can make it 2 weeks in a row! 

7. Blog changes: Look for the changes coming May 2012!!!! The design is being re-vamped and I’ve got such cute blog buttons to share…I can’t wait!!!! More work to do on it this weekend!!! It’s getting there!

What are your tips for keeping your busy home running smooth throughout the week?  Feel free to share your tips and ideas in a comment or link back to a post!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Have a blessed weekend!

Blessings,

Annette

Teachable Tuesdays: Homeschool Curriculum Choices – Part 1

Mister Bull schooling! Don't let this smile fool you...he's really just trying to appease his Momma! Inside he's saying, "Oh please hurry this up! UGH!!!" LOL

Our third official year of homeschooling will begin June 4^th. Our oldest will officially enter the 2^nd grade and we are so excited!!! Actually…I keep telling myself that and avoiding the fact that he’s growing up so fast right before my eyes! It’s just seems crazy that I have an almost 2^nd grader!!

We have had our ups and downs with school. This year we’ve had the most trouble with papers, specifically Math. Nevertheless, we’re sticking with the same curriculum as last year, just adding some supplementals. I did a LOT of research to find a new math curriculum, one that would offer both what he needs and what I believed necessary. But, there isn’t one out there. So…we’re pairing our curricula with manipulatives, games and more hands-on activities to give him what he needs. More on that in a minute.

I am going to give you a break-down of our curriculum choices for our upcoming school year. The links I am providing in no way give me commission or any compensation. It’s merely to give you a reference. I did not necessarily purchase my products from the site I link to. I researched and found the least expensive option and ordered/bought from there. I will explain more about that next week, in part 2 of this series as well as Preschool Curriculum choices for the Middles.

But back to 2^nd grade…here we gooooo!

HISTORY: Mystery of History – we started this in First Grade and are half-way through the first book. We will continue to work through the next 18 weeks of lessons, taking 2 weeks per lesson. There is a lot of information in each lesson and some great activities at the end of each week that we never seem to get to. So we’re going to structure a little differently this year and really take our time.

BIBLE: Apologia’s “WhoAm I? And what am I doing here?” This year we did the first book in the series, so we’ll move on to book two for 2^nd grade. Some of the lessons are a little over his head in terms of wording, but we sit and talk about it and he asks some GREAT questions. So for us it’s a win-win! Teaching A Biblical Worldview through God’s Word!! We did not use any of the additional products this year, but I have purchased the journal for 2^nd grade. I think it has some great thought provoking questions and writing starters. We are not using the coloring book, as my son is not a color-er.

SCIENCE: Apologia’s Exploring Creation Series, “SwimmingCreatures of the Fifth Day”, which my son chose. Yes, it says to do the Zoology 1 book first, unless you have an understanding of Zoological terms. I figure if we don’t know it…we can look it up. He was really interested in this book more than the others and from our experience, he does much better when he’s interested in the subject. I also purchased the Junior Notebooking Journal. The writing, puzzles, questions and activities are just what he needs to supplement the reading work!

HANDWRITING & SPELLING: AReason for Handwriting B and AReason for Spelling Level B – We used book A this year and loved it!!! Or at least I did! My son could care less about writing. I like how it coordinates with our Spelling curricula. I also like how they encourage Scripture memory, spelling and hanwriting skills at the same time! It’s like a triple dose of Bible each week! Another reason I like this series: there is only ONE teacher book for the entire Handwriting series, so I got that last year. YAY!!! And, I can usually find the Spelling guidebook on Amazon fairly cheap.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE: ElementaryGreek: Koine for beginners – Some people may say we’re crazy…and most often they’d be right! I actually purchased this last year with prompting from the Hubster. Our plan was to do it together (Mom, Dad and Mister Bull). But we quickly realized it was just a little above his level still. The flash cards were fairly easy for him, but the workbook and reinforcement work was too much. So we decided to table it until this year and try again. I’m both nervous and excited about it and the Hubster is beyond thrilled. He learned Greek in college and is so excited to review it along with us. Yes, it will take us some extra time, but in the long run I think it will be good. Why did we choose Greek? The Hubster believes in order to better understand God’s Word one must be able to read the original Greek language. I don’t guess it matters much…it’s all Greek to me! Haha (I know…poor attempt at a joke!)

MATH: Horizons: Math2 – We used Horizon’s this year as well. There are many things I love about it. The colorful pages keep the children’s attention, it breaks up daily lessons, review of past lessons in the daily work and it just keeps building on previous concepts. What doesn’t work for Mister Bull is that it is ALL paperwork!!!! It’s like pulling teeth to get him to sit and finish the paper!

I looked into several different Math options to see if they’d work for us, but alas…I found nothing. The closest I came was RightStart Math. I love all the manipulatives and hands-on activities, but I just feel he needs the daily paperwork as well. My reasoning: He’s going to have to do it sometime! Algebra is not done on a scale! I know this probably wouldn’t bother most of you, but for Mister Bull, once you set a precedent for something he’ll think  that’s the only way there is to do it. Translation: BIG TIME PROBLEM in the future! So, for now we’re sticking with Horizons. But, I am going to intentionally add some games, flash cards (we’re really bad about doing these right now) and our own manipulatives to reinforce new concepts.

READERS: ABeka Readers for 3rd grade. This is the area we’re ahead in…surprisingly! But, he started reading very early in Kindergarten and has just taken off from there! This year we’re going to do this a little different. The A Beka readers will be our read alouds because he has some new chapter books that he’s really interested in and loves reading! Not to mention the great stack of Hardy Boys books I found at a garage sale this past weekend!!!! SCORE!

So, that’s our curriculum for 2^nd grade! What’s your favorite curricula? Do you use a Core Curriculum and supplementals or a mish-mash of whatever works?

Feel free to share in the comments or leave a link back to your own post!! I love reading all your tips and ideas! I am always open to researching for new curriculum to see if it would work for us! We learn by sharing!! Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Annette

Linking up to these parties:

What Joy Is Mine, Far Above Rubies, Teaching What is Good, Raising Mighty Arrows, Holy Spirit Led Homeschooling

Homeschool Happenings: Weekly Review #2

This past Sunday I sat down and outlined the rest of our school year. Now, I basically knew what we were doing and when, but I wanted exact pages written down. Such as, how many pages in Science we read each day or in our Bible curriculum. I usually just guess and stop when it feels right, but I thought…ya know, we’ve only got a few weeks left of school, so I better make sure we’re finished with our current curriculum by then.

Simply…I needed a plan! Now I have one and I am beyond giddy about it. That makes me a nerd, right?! It’s okay…I’m over it!

A few months back, I realized that fighting with my son to do his papers every. single. day. was pointless. He was never going to love them as much as I do. In fact, he was never going to even like them! So, we made a deal…we would switch off doing papers and reading from the texts. That way, he’s not overwhelmed with an hour of reading followed by an hour of pleading with him to do his papers, half an hour crying (me and him) and eventually 20 minutes of paperwork. Now we have this schedule:

Monday, Wednesday & Friday: Reading texts (Science, History, Bible)

Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday: Paperwork (Geography, Math, Writing, Spelling)

Through the end of our year in May, we have school on Saturdays because of how much we missed with the passing of my Daddy. Plus, we take off most of December and many Thursdays we take time off to spend with The Hubster (aka Da-Da) on his day off work. When our year starts over in June (we school year-round), we won’t have school on Saturdays.

This week The Hubster was able to spend some quality time with our oldest on a science experiment/project we’ve wanted to do for a while. And boy, oh boy, did they have fun?!  And they still are!!!!

This year we’ve used Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Astronomy for Science and we’ve loved every minute of it! So, this experiment was in the book for an extra assignment related to Jupiter. I’m going to relay it to you all and give some helpful tips/hints we discovered along the way.

You will need:

2 plastic soda pop or water bottles (we read that 1L are best)

1” washer (we found this not to do well & leak quite a bit. See our solution below)

Water-resistant tape (we used duct tape)

Instructions:

1. Fill one bottle 2/3 full of water. (We added a few drops of green & blue food coloring so we could really see the hurricane at work.)
2. Place the washer on top of the mouth opening. If you use this method, make sure the washer has a large enough hole to allow the water to flow easily.
3. Place the other bottle upside-down on top of the washer.
4. Tape the two bottles together very thoroughly. If it leaks, they suggest adding more tape & wrapping it tighter. We found that ours still leaked, but it was considerably less when we added more tape.
5. Turn the two-bottle setup over so that the bottle with water in it is now the upside-down bottle on top.
6. Move the bottles in a circular motion, swirling the water around in the same direction for a moment.
7. Watch your system form a hurricane-shaped funnel down into the bottle below. You can repeat this as often as you like.

NOTE: Some people like to add glitter or even small toys in the bottles so they can watch them swirl around.

Okay, so we followed these instructions to the “t” the first time. It leaked. We added more tape and wrapped it tighter. It still leaked, only less.

This is the original washer. See how small the vortex is?
Make sure your washer has a large enough opening.

Then, The Hubster…havng the “engineer mind” that he does, started searching the internet for tips/options. And he found this! And at a store right up the street from us – WOO HOO!!!! He was nearly giddy with excitement and practically counting down the minutes until he could go get one! Silly man!

Unfortunately, our store ended up not having that exact brand and the one he found ended up costing about 4x as much. However, as my Dad always said, “You get what you pay for.” And this particular brand had TWO experiments in it! One for the hurricane and one for a fountain.

Isn't that a GREAT vortex?!

So…now we have not one, but TWO Science experiments hidden in the pantry out of sight for the Littles. They have been a GREAT source of learning, entertainment and of course, FUN!!

What did you do this week in your homeschooling journey? Feel free to share you favorite experiment, tip, idea or just a word of encouragement for others!!


(I will put up a video soon. But, the one I had, had some loud background noise...imagine that?!)

Blessings,

Annette

I’m linking up to these other GREAT Homeschool Weekly Reviews!

Click on the links to check them out!

HolySpirit Led Homeschooling, Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers, Home Grown Learners, The Gettys “Favorite Resource This Week”

52 Fridays: Week 15 Update

Here goes this week’s report. You can read more about my journey beginning with Week 1. Feel free to join me and Crystal in this journey.

1. DAILY quiet time: Why is it that this is the hardest thing to get done? Am I the only one who feels this way? Making this a first priority is #1 on my list this week. I’ve just got to get up and get it done. Get a new habit going and keep with it – no matter what! I get my emails through biblegateway.com and a women’s devotional through Proverbs 31 devotions. Such great tools – be sure to check them out! 

2. Weekly weight loss: I continue to struggle with finding the time to workout. The Hubster has joined the “cause” and is ready to move to real foods with me. Now that I’m not alone in this, I think we’ll really be able to move forward with this!! 

3. Vintage Remedies 8 weeks to Real Foods: Still working on the  food pantry sheet. We’re in the process of clearing out our pantry to use what we have and transition into “real foods.” I can’t even tell you how excited I am. I’ve heard such great results from those who’ve made the switch. Not only in weight loss, but also in how much better they feel. I can’t wait!!! Real Foods…here I come! 

4. Homeschool Fun: This week has been more organized and therefore, we have more time for FUN!! Read my Homeschool Happenings post today to see more!! 

5. Organization: Not much to report here. I’ve got great ideas, but lack either the funds or the time! Working on new, inexpensive options!! 

6. Staying caught up: This area was not so great this week. I am getting caught back up on laundry, but dishes are another story. In November 2011, I had surgery on my right wrist. All was going well, until this past weekend when it started acting up on me again. At one point I couldn’t even grip a can of pop or door handle. NOT FUN!! So, I’ve had to rely on The Hubster for help. And well…we all know how most men are about dishes or chores in general! LOL But, we’re working on it! 

7. Blog changes: Okay, so things are not going quite as planned. I think I’m going to push this back to May. Look for the changes coming May 2012!!!! The design is being re-vamped and I’ve got such cute blog buttons to share…I can’t wait!!!!

How do you find time to spend with the Lord in prayer?  Feel free to share your tips and ideas in a comment or link back to a post!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Have a blessed weekend!

Blessings,

Annette

Teachable Tuesdays: Learning at the Zoo!!!!

Mr. Mouse staring down a lizard guy. ICK!!!


A couple weeks ago the Hubster was off an extra day, so we took full advantage and traveled around a bit. On Tuesday we visited our local zoo. We always have a good time there. We're members, so we frequent quite often. Tuesday was a little chilly, but beautiful!! We were able to see the NEW Sea Lion exhibit in full swing! We saw a little bit of a show, which was really them training. Our Sea Lions have been visiting the Oklahoma City Zoo for the last year or more while they re-did our exhibit. We used to just have a plain-jane water area with a small overlook. Nothing to write home about that's for sure!

But now...well, you'll just have to trust me because I forgot our camera! Bad blogger!!! I promise I'll take some next time we go and share them with you all. It really is quite neat. We even have an underwater cave you can go into and see them swimming around. Very fun!!!!

These are the few pictures I have from our last visit.

A new set of piglets just born a couple weeks ago.

Aren’t they so cute?!

My middles staring at the illusive Black Bears. They kept growling at them. So. Darn. Cute!!

And this goat!! He was cracking me up! He’s in our petting zoo area and he was just sitting on this stump. Then, I noticed his eyes were closed and simply thought he was soaking up the sun rays. And all of a sudden, his head starts falling slowly, lower and lower and lower…until it completely fell and he jerked it back up again! You know…the sleeping head nod, jerk back up in hopes that no one saw you move?! YEP!! He totally did it! I was laughing hysterically! It was the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time. Oh so funny!!

When we decided to Homeschool our kids a few years back, I began thinking about all the field trips we could take. I loved going on field trips in Elementary School and I wanted my kids to have the same experiences…only better!

So, one thing we did was become members of our local zoo so we could go whenever we wanted. It has been so much fun over the past few years to visit and see all the changes.

But, there’s really only so much you can do at a zoo that you’ve visited 15,000 times. How do you keep from getting bored? How can you make the trip even more educational?

I began doing some online searches and found that some of the larger, more well-known zoo’s have links on their sites for kids. You can print off games, puzzles, word searches, etc. But our zoo didn’t have anything like that, so I set out to create my own “Zoo Games” file.

Here are some of the things I came up with…

Word Search 
(I made it in WORD, so I can change it easily if I want!)

BINGO (two ways):

Picture Bingo for my Littles
Word/CharacteristicBingo for my reader

Fill-in info sheets

“Can You Find Me?” sheets 
(zoom in on animals you’ve taken pictures of previously to see if they can spot them again!)

Older Kids download            PreKdownload

“What Am I?” 
(give clues to help them find animals)

Matching sheets 
(where you match animals to their homes/habitat)

Click on the links above to download a free version of each. Feel free to use them in your own trip to the zoo or just as a supplement to your homeschooling journey! You are also welcome to change the Word Documents to fit your own Zoo experience. I change mine often to increase our knowledge of new animals!

Happy Schooling!!

Blessings,

Annette


Linking up with these GREAT parties today!
What Joy is Mine, An Original Belle, Teaching What Is Good, Growing Home, Far Above Rubies, Raising Mighty Arrows, Holy Spirit Led Homeschooling

Homeschool Happenings: Weekly Review #1

Frequently, my oldest son visits my grandparents, his great-grandparents. They have him out usually every other week to visit. Often times he helps in the backyard by driving “Little John” (a kid-size John Deere tractor) around and collecting sticks in the back and moving them to the front trash bins. He finds this “job” great fun and it keeps him busy too!

But, this week, his great-grandpa “hired” him to help with a job. You see, my grandpa had his second hip-replacement surgery a few weeks back and he can’t bend past a 90 degree angle. That makes picking up sticks, rocks and such out of the question. So, he “hired” my oldest son to help him this week.

My son was able to go out on Tuesday and help and then again today (Friday). He is removing some boards my grandpa had placed next to their driveway for more parking spaces. They are having a new driveway poured next week and it needed to be done. So, my son has learned the invaluable lesson of hard work this week.

And the best part…my grandpa taught him a few lessons along the way!! He told my son he wanted to “hire” him for a job and asked if he was interested. Of course my son jumped at the chance. So, he explained to him that he would pay him TWO gold dollars for each day he worked until it was completed. Then, he went on to explain that when people are hired for a job they are expected to work hard and do their best. And, sometimes when the job is complete and they’ve done a great job, they could earn a bonus.

Everyday my son has asked to go out and work. In fact, he’s begged on occasion. With some rain that moved through a few scheduling conflicts, it’s been a looooong week for him. Maybe the motivation is money right now, but he is learning how to work hard, follow instructions, take direction and always do his best. Plus, he’s learning under the watchful eye of his loving great-grandpa! Doesn’t get much better than that!!

This is him mowing last year, under the watchful eye of his Daddy.
I didn't know he was mowing this week or I would have grabbed my camera to snap a new picture.

And since he’s been “hired” for this job, he’s also asked to help with things around the house…for pay! HA! Sadly, we had to inform him that helping with chores around the house is just part of being a family. Everyone pitches in and helps take care of things. (We don’t do an allowance for him at this time, but more on that in another post.) And what’s his favorite job to do around the house you ask? MOW! He practically begs to do it! In fact, he completely cleaned the backyard on Wednesday so he could mow. Unfortunately, it was already too late in the day to mow, shower and eat before church. Now if we could just figure out a way to keep up this motivation and transfer it to his actual school work?!

How was your homeschooling week?

Blessings,

Annette

Linking up to the Homeschool Parties:

Holy-Spirit Led Homeschooling, Learning All The Time, Collage Friday @ Homegrown Learners, Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Teachable Tuesdays: FREE Animal Track Finder

Most of you probably know about Pinterest by now. And if you don’t…BEWARE!!!! It’s highly addictive! It’s one of those vices I’ve had to severely restrict myself from. I used to be on there every spare moment I had at the computer. But, now I get on there maybe once a week or when I need to some inspiration on a project. Otherwise, I stick to my guns.

However, Pinterest has been very helpful in finding and organizing ideas for our homeschool journey. Sooooo many great ideas all in one place. That’s probably why I love it so much – it’s organized!!! Much like I wish my house and life were. If only we all had the time, energy and money to complete all the cutie-patootie projects we find on there! Ahhhh…

One idea I found was so perfect for my oldest. He’s always asking about the weather and what clouds mean what, etc. So when I came across this particular idea I was smitten! Really smitten!! But, I decided I could make it myself with my Creative Memories Storybook Creator Plus 4.0 program (try a FREE 30-day trial here). So that’s exactly what I did!

Isn’t it beautiful? Oh I just love it!

Now, I would love to share this with you, but since the original is one that you must buy I don’t feel its ethical to share my free version. However, you are welcome to make your own!! 

I made mine an 8x8 square. Then, I just situated the pictures around so they fit. Then, you just cut out the blue square in the middle so you can "find" what you're looking for. They are also categorized by upper, middle and lower clouds too! I haven't printed it yet, but I plan to print it as a picture and then laminate it for more durability. Put the whole thing on a large tongue depressor and you're ready to travel!

I would like to use our cloud finder to “hunt down” clouds and take pictures, so that he could even make his own cloud finder!

Now, with that being said, the cloud finder spurred me on to make another “finder” that I will gladly share with you!

My mind began swimming with all the possibilities, but so far I've only created one for animal tracks common in our region of Oklahoma. My son is always “finding” tracks in our yard or on our walks and I thought this would be perfect for him to identify them. What fun he’ll have!! Download the free .pdf here.

I see so many more possibilities for these finders. You could do leaves or common trees for your area. You could do letters for preschooler. Or pictures of places you frequently drive by so they can spot them.

Make one for a trip you’re taking so your kids can spot things while you’re driving in the car! Really the possibilities are endless!! Get creative and make your own!!!

What’s your favorite Pinterest find that you’ve already used? What other “finders” would you make? One day soon I plan to make more and don’t worry…I’ll be sure to share!

Blessings,

Annette

Linking up with these wonderful parties today. Be sure to click over and see what others have shared. I always find some great encouragement and hidden treasures!

What Joy Is Mine, Teaching What is Good, Far Above Rubies, Time-Warp Wife, Raising Homemakers, Women Living Well, Raising Mighty Arrows, Holy Spirit Led Homeschooling